So what you're saying is he gets an "ok" pass? Seen guys in Cessna Caravans pull stuff like that. Energy management and knowing your machine
Hm. Which hat am I wearing? If I'm an IP he gets to walk home. Does he know the hardware? Sure he does. He can obviously fly. And he was alone in it, which means that property damage and his butt were the only things on the line if he got a surprise from prop blast, wind gust, or bird ingestion (among other things) on that final...unless you consider the trajectory that has him balling it up into the trimotor and the camera operator. As I said, it's the turn onto final 20' off the ground that bothers me. Well, that and the coming in too flat over the trees first.
I file this one in the category of "Yes, the machine can do it, and if the pilot knows the machine well enough (and is a good enough stick)
he can do it, but whether or not he
should do it is another matter." Margin of error is not just for human error, and the universe is full of surprises. The less altitude and airspeed you have in the jar the fewer options you have.
When I was 20 I would have been impressed with his skills. Now I think he's gotten too casual with some very unforgiving physics. It's true that not everybody can or does have skills like this. It's also true that quite a few people die every year trying to do stuff like this. And yes, I've seen plenty of tow and jump pilots do things like this casually over the years. It doesn't mean that I'd choose to go along for the ride...
